Tuesday, April 21, 2009

John Worboys: up to 500 rapes. Could serve as little as 8 years in prison. What I really don't understand is why he was convicted of only one rape. Did the police think that was enough and that the other hundreds of victims would be sat around going "Fair enough", I'll just tell my daughters to avoid cabs in eight years time... I can understand they might see it as a waste of time to prosecute every single charge once they've got enough to ensure he never leaves prison but smells to me very much like the police don't really give a fuck about women's safety! Again.

1 comment:

Yes I too asked the same question - why was Worboys only sentenced to 8 years before he can apply for release? Was it because he only raped and committed serious sexual violence against women who in the sentencing judge's words to Worboys said 'you (Worboys) developed and perfected a web of deceit that was sufficent to ensnare young, intelligent and sensible women (ah what if these women were not "sensible and intelligent." Would that have made Worboys' the rapist a non-rapist because the women were not intelligent?) women who had enjoyed a night out and whose only mistake as it turned out, was to get into your cab late at night.'

Correction Judge but Worboys did not rape these young women because they 'made a mistake.' Worboys deliberately raped these women because they were women. No woman 'makes a mistake' and thereby causes men such as rapist Worboys to rape them.

Worboys made a deliberate choice to treat women as his personal sexualised objects and raped them for his sexual gratification.

But of course Worboys did not commit a 'horrendous crime' such as plotting to commit a terrorist act so his sentence is only eight years.

What message does this paltry sentence send to women and men too? Why men raping women is not a serious crime but mundane. No wonder the numbers of men raping women in London has increased dramatically. Because men committing rape is the easiest crime to commit and the one least likely to result in male rapists being charged let alone convicted and given a hefty sentence. Why property crime is more serious than male sexual violence against women.

That is why Operation Sapphire staff were ordered to investigate car crime rather than investigating mundane, routine male sexual violence against women.